Abstract
BackgroundThe increased metabolic activity required to sustain breastfeeding and its associated milk production helps to reduce maternal fat stores accumulated during pregnancy. This study aims to assess the association between breastfeeding duration and fatness indices in middle-aged women.MethodsThe analysis was carried out in a group of 7500 parous 55.5 ± 5.3 year old women included body mass index, body fat percentage, and waist-to-height ratio. The likelihood of excessive weight or obesity in relation to total breastfeeding time using multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsAn analysis of adjusted odds ratios did not show significant associations between breastfeeding duration and the risk of excessive weight and obesity in premenopausal women. After menopause, women who gave birth to 2 children and breastfed 1–6 and > 12 months had a lower risk of abdominal obesity (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.50–0.99; p = 0.042; and OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.47–0.98; p = 0.039). Women who gave birth to 3 or more children and breastfed for 1–6 months, also showed a lower risk of overweight (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.27–0.99; p = 0.047), compared to those ones that have never breastfed. There was no relationship found between the duration of lactation and the risk of excessive body fat.ConclusionBreastfeeding may have some beneficial, long-term effect on the risk of excessive weight and abdominal obesity in women.
Highlights
The increased metabolic activity required to sustain breastfeeding and its associated milk production helps to reduce maternal fat stores accumulated during pregnancy
From 8 retrospective studies a positive association between breastfeeding and weight changes was noted in only 2 papers, whereas 14 of 35 prospective studies in which women were evaluated for weight ≤ 2 years after delivery, found a beneficial effect of breastfeeding on body weight changes
McClure et al found that 7 years post-partum, the amount of visceral fat measured by computed tomography was greater among those women who breastfed for less than 3 months after the birth of each child, compared to those who breastfed longer [14]; they did not observe such a relation regarding body mass index (BMI) and other fatness indicators
Summary
The increased metabolic activity required to sustain breastfeeding and its associated milk production helps to reduce maternal fat stores accumulated during pregnancy. This study aims to assess the association between breastfeeding duration and fatness indices in middle-aged women. Breastfeeding can have a beneficial effect on the body fat index in women. From 8 retrospective studies a positive association between breastfeeding and weight changes was noted in only 2 papers, whereas 14 of 35 prospective studies in which women were evaluated for weight ≤ 2 years after delivery, found a beneficial effect of breastfeeding on body weight changes. McClure et al found that 7 years post-partum, the amount of visceral fat measured by computed tomography was greater among those women who breastfed for less than 3 months after the birth of each child, compared to those who breastfed longer [14]; they did not observe such a relation regarding body mass index (BMI) and other fatness indicators. It is important to examine breastfeeding history as an independent factor that can potentially have a longterm influence on female fatness
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